_Twisting and braiding._--We had no opportunity of seeing the process
of twisting the sinew twine, which is sometimes used in place of the
braid so often mentioned but more generally when an extra strong
thread is desired, as in sewing on boot soles. Fig. 314 (No. 89431
[1332] from Utkiavwĭñ) is a little shuttle of walrus ivory, 3 inches
long and 1⅓ broad, which we were told was used in this process. The
body of this shuttle is reduced to a narrow crosspiece, and the prongs
at one end are twice as long as those at the other. The tips of the
long prongs are about ¼ inch apart, while those of the short ones
nearly meet. There is a small round hole in one side of the body. This
specimen was made for sale. As well as I could understand the seller,
the ends of several strands of fine sinew were fastened into the hole
in the shuttle and twisted by twisting it with one hand, while the
other end was held perhaps by the other hand. The part twisted was
then wound on the shuttle and a fresh length twisted. This would be a
very simple form of spinning with a spindle.
[Illustration: FIG. 314.--Ivory shuttle. 1/2]
No special implements for twisting have been described among other
Eskimo. Mr. E. W. Nelson (in a letter to the writer) says that the
natives of Norton Sound informed him that the cable twisters
(kaputa--kíbu´tûk at Norton Sound) were also used for making twisted
cord. He describes their use as follows: “The ends of the sinew cord
are tied to the center holes in the two ivory pieces, one of the
latter at each end of the cord, and then they are twisted in opposite
directions, thus getting the hard-laid sinew cord used on the bows.”
[Illustration: FIG. 315.--Netting needle. 1/3]
The sinew twine used at Point Barrow is generally braided, almost
always in a three-ply braid, usually about the size of stout
packthread, such as is found on many Eskimo implements from all
localities represented in the Museum collections. That they also know
how to braid with four strands is shown by the hair line already
described (No. 56545 [410]). They also have a special word (which I
can not recall) for braiding with four strands in distinction from
braiding with three (pidrá).
[Illustration: FIG. 316.--Mesh stick. 1/4]
_Netting._--Two implements are used as usual in netting, a needle or
long flat shuttle for carrying the twine (Fig. 315, No. 56570 [101]),
and a mesh stick for gauging the length of the mesh. The knot is the
universal “fisherman’s knot” or becket hitch made in the usual manner.
The method of using the mesh stick, however, is rather peculiar, and
somewhat clumsy compared with that used by civilized net-makers, as it
serves only to measure the mesh and not also to hold the successive
meshes as they are made. It is a long flat piece of bone or antler,
shaped like a case knife, with a blade square at heel and point. There
is often also a little blunt hook (as in Fig. 316, No. 56581 [1021])
at the point, bending upward or toward the back of the blade. The
blade is the part of the stick which measures the mesh, and its length
from heel to point is always precisely half the length of the mesh to
be made. It is used as follows: The workman, holding the mesh stick by
the handle in his left hand, with the blade downward, catches the mesh
into which the knot is to be made with the hook, and holds it while
the twine is carried down the left side of the blade, round the heel
and through the mesh as usual, and drawn up till the preceding knot
comes just to the point of the blade. This makes a loop of the proper
length for a mesh round the stick. The point where the next knot is to
be made is now caught between the thumb and finger of the right hand
and the mesh stick taken out of the loop. The left thumb and finger,
while the other fingers of this hand still hold the handle of the
stick, relieve the fingers of the right hand, which goes on to make
the knot in the usual manner.[N418]
[Footnote N418: We had no special opportunities for watching the
natives at work netting, as but few nets happened to be made at
the village during our stay. It was, however, observed that the
mesh stick was taken out every time a knot was tied. Since my
return, after a careful study of the different mesh sticks in our
collection, I have convinced myself by experiment that the above
method of using the tool is the only one which will account for
the shape of the different parts.]
We collected thirteen needles of different patterns and sizes. No.
56570 [101], Fig. 315, has been selected as the type (ĭ´nmuvwĭñ,
mû´kutĭn.) It is of walrus ivory, 11.9 inches long. The small hole
near the tip of one prong is for a lanyard to hang it up by when not
in use. This needle could be used only for making a large meshed net,
perhaps a seal net.
We collected seven needles of almost the same pattern as this, varying
a little in proportions. The faces are usually more deeply hollowed
out and the ends usually sinuate instead of being straight. Three of
these are of reindeer antler and the rest of ivory. The longest is 9.9
inches long and the shortest 4½. This needle (No. 56574 [24], from
Utkiavwĭñ) is rather broad in proportion, being nearly 1 inch wide. It
is of walrus ivory. No. 89433 [942] is better suited for netting a
small mesh, being only 0.7 inch broad at the widest part. It is made
of reindeer antler and is 7.3 inches long. These needles sometimes
have a small hole through one end of the body for fastening the end of
the twine, and most have some arrangement for fastening on a lanyard,
either a hole as in the type or a groove round the tip of one prong as
in No. 56574 [24].
[Illustration: FIG. 317.--Netting needles. 1/2]
No. 89427 [1283], from Utkiavwĭñ, is a needle of a slightly different
pattern, being rather thick and not narrowed at the middle. It is of
reindeer antler, 8.7 inches long and 1 wide. No. 89430 [1286], Fig.
317_a_, from Utkiavwĭñ, is a very broad needle, with short body and
long prongs, one of which is expanded at the tip and perforated for a
lanyard. It is a piece of the outside hard tissue of a reindeer
antler, 5.4 inches long and 1.2 broad. It is but slightly narrowed at
the middle, while No. 89428 [1381], Fig. 317_b_, from Utkiavwĭñ,
a somewhat similar broad needle of the same material is deeply notched
on each side of the body. This is made from antler of smaller diameter
than the preceding, and consequently is not flat, but strongly convex,
on one face and correspondingly concave on the other. It is 8.2 inches
long and 1½ wide.
[Illustration: FIG. 318.--Netting needle for seal net. 1/6]
For making the seal nets a very large needle is used. The one in the
collection, No. 56581 [102], Fig. 318, from Utkiavwĭñ, is 20½ inches
long and only 1½ wide. It is made of two nearly equal pieces of
antler, which are nearly flat, and lap over each other about 3¾ inches
near the middle. They are strongly fastened together by five whalebone
stitches, one at each corner of the splice and one in the middle. The
corner stitches run round the edge of the two parts, and through a
hole through both parts. The prongs are stout and curved, nearly
meeting at the tips. They are about 3 inches long. The lateral
distortion appears to be due to warping.
[Illustration: FIG. 319.--Netting needle. 1/2]
[Illustration: FIG. 320.--Mesh sticks. 1/2]
A peculiar netting needle is shown in Fig. 319 (No. 89429 [1333], from
Utkiavwĭñ), which is new and rather carelessly made from very coarse
walrus ivory. The tips of the prongs, after nearly meeting, diverge
again in the form of the letter U. This needle, which is 9½ inches
long, was said by the maker to be of the pattern used by the
“Kûñmû´d’lĭñ.” There are no specimens resembling it in the museum
collections, though it curiously suggests certain implements from
Norton Sound, labeled “reels for holding fine cord,” consisting of
slender rods of antler, terminating at each end in similar shallow
U-shaped forks.
The mesh stick (kú´brĭn) belonging to the large netting needle, No.
56581 [102], may be taken as the type of this implement. It is a piece
of the hard outside tissue of a reindeer antler. The three notches on
the lower edge of the haft are for the fingers. The incised line along
one face of the blade is probably a mark to which the twine is to be
drawn in making a mesh. The blade is just the proper length, 7½
inches, for the large mesh of the seal net. The remaining four mesh
sticks are all small, and intended for making fish nets. Three are of
reindeer antler and the fourth of hard bone, with a wooden haft.
Fig. 320_a_ (No. 89436 [1284], from Utkiavwĭñ) is of antler, 7.2
inches long, with a blade of 2.7 inches, protected from splitting by a
stout round peg of hard bone, driven through the handle so as to lie
against the heel of the blade. It terminates in a blunt point instead
of a hook, and has three finger notches in the haft. No. 89437 [942],
also from Utkiavwĭñ, is of the same material, 5.2 inches long, without
a hook and with a blade only 1 inch long. There are two finger notches
in the haft. The last of the antler mesh sticks (No. 89439 [983], from
Utkiavwĭñ, Fig. 320_b_) is double ended, having a hook and a short
blade at each end. The blades are respectively 1.5 and 1.6 inches
long, and the total length is 6.6 inches. Fig. 320_c_ (No. 89435
[1019], also from Utkiavwĭñ) has a blade, with a small hook, of white
compact bone, and what would be the handle lashed to one side of a
haft of soft wood, which is shouldered to receive it. The haft is 4.3
inches long, and the two parts are held together by two lashings of
fine sinew, kept from slipping by notches. The total length is 7.3
inches, that of the blade 2.7. Netting needles and mesh sticks of
essentially the same type as those just described, but varying in
material and dimensions, are in general use from the Anderson River to
Bristol Bay, as is shown by the Museum collections.
_Netting weights._--We collected 16 little ivory implements, each,
when complete, consisting of the image of a fish about 3½ to 4 inches
long, suspended by a string about 4 inches long to a little ivory
spring hook. We never happened to see these implements in use, but we
were told that they were used in netting to keep the meshes in proper
shape. They generally were made in pairs. The only way of using them
that I can think of is first to hook one into the bight of the first
mesh made in starting the net. This would make the successive meshes,
as they were netted, hang down out of the way. On starting the next
row in the opposite direction, the second weight hooked into the first
mesh of this row would draw the successive meshes down on the
left-hand side of the stick, while the other weight would keep the
meshes of the first row stretched so that one could be easily caught
at a time. On beginning the third row the first weight would be
transferred to the first mesh of this, and so on. Fig. 321_a_ is one
of a pair of these nĕpĭtaúra (No. 56596 [207]) which has been selected
as the type. It is a rather rude figure of a salmon or trout 4 inches
long, neatly carved out of walrus ivory. The string is of braided
sinew and the hook of walrus ivory.
[Illustration: FIG. 321.--Netting weights.]
Fig. 321_b_ (No. 89442 [899] from Nuwŭk) is a weight without the hook
and made of compact whale’s bone. It is 4.1 inches long, and very
neatly carved, having all the fins in relief, the gill openings,
mouth, and eyes incised. No. 56582 [173] from Utkiavwĭñ is one of a
pair very rudely carved out of a piece of snow-shovel edge. The mouth
and gill openings are indicated by incised and blackened lines, the
latter fringed with short lines, each ending in a dot, perhaps to
represent the gill filaments. It is 4.2 inches long, and hastily made
for sale. Fig. 321_c_ (No. 56578 [201] from Utkiavwĭñ) seems to be
intended for a polar cod, and has the hole drilled through the root of
the tail. The lateral line is marked by a scratch, colored with black
lead, and the dark color of the back is represented by curved,
transverse scratches also colored with black lead. When the carving is
sufficiently good to show what sort of a fish is meant, it is
generally a salmon or trout. Only 3 out of the 16 are of anything but
walrus ivory. These 3 are of compact whale’s bone, and one had small
blue glass beads inlaid for eyes, of which one still remains. The
shortest is 3.4 inches long, and the longest 4.3, but most of them are
almost exactly 4 inches long.
[Illustration: FIG. 322.--Shuttle belonging to set of feather tools.
1/2]
_Weaving._--A set of little tools made of bone and reindeer antler
were brought over for sale, which were said to be those used in
weaving the feather belts. I had no opportunity of seeing a belt made,
but the work evidently does not require all three of these tools. The
little netting needle or shuttle of bone (Fig. 322, No. 89434 [1338])
can not be used in feather weaving, because, as already mentioned, the
strips of feather are not fastened together into a continuous cord
which could be carried on a shuttle. It is 5.9 inches long and 0.7
wide. There is also a little mesh stick of antler (Fig. 323, No. 89438
[1338]) 6.7 inches long, with a blade 1.9 inches in length, and a
little hook, which appears to be fitted for nothing except netting a
small net. The lower edge of the handle, however, is cut into 10 deep
rounded notches, which perhaps serve the purpose of a rude “frame” for
keeping apart the strands of the warp, while the woof of feather is
passed through with the fingers. It would be held with this edge up,
and the beginning of the belt being fastened to the wall, the warp
strands would be stretched over this, as over a violin bridge, each
resting in one of the notches. The last tool of the set (Fig. 324, No.
89462 [1338]) is undoubtedly a “sword” for pushing home the woof, and
probably also serves to separate the strands of the warp into a
“shed.” It is a flat, thin piece of antler, 9 inches long and
three-fourths wide, of which about 6½ inches forms a straight blade 6½
inches long, and the rest is bent round to one side and slightly down,
forming a handle. When the strands of the warp are stretched over the
bridge as above described, pushing this horizontally through them
alternately over and under the successive strands, would make a “shed”
through which the end of the woof could be thrust with one motion, and
pushed up against the preceding strand of the woof by sliding the
sword forward. It would then be withdrawn and passed through again,
going over the strands it went under before and vice versa, so as to
open a “shed” for the next strand of the woof.
[Illustration: FIG. 323.--Mesh stick. 1/2]
[Illustration: FIG. 324.--“Sword” for feather weaving. 1/2]
_Sewing._--For sewing furs and leather they always use thread made by
stripping off thin fibers from a piece of dried sinew of the reindeer,
as is usual with Eskimo. Cotton or linen thread of civilized
manufacture is now often used for sewing the cotton frocks, etc., and
sometimes for making an ornamental seam on the waterproof gut shirts.
The stitches employed have already been described under the head of
clothing (which see). They hold the needle between the thumb and
middle finger, with the thimble on the forefinger (both are called by
the same name, tĭ´kyǝ) and sew toward them. This appears to be the
regular Eskimo method of sewing.[N419]
[Footnote N419: See Parry, Second Voy., p. 537; Lyon, Journal,
p. 93; Kumlien, Contributions, p. 25.]
At the present day they are well supplied with steel needles (miksun)
of all sizes and patterns, but formerly they used bone needles made
from the fibula (amĭlyĕrûñ) of the reindeer. We collected sixty of
these needles, eighteen of which appear to be old and genuine. The
rest were more or less carefully made for sale. Nĭkawáalu told us that
once when he and a young man were out deer hunting a long distance
from camp their boots gave out. Having killed a deer he made thread
from the sinew, a needle from the bone, and with pieces of the skin
repaired their boots, so that they got home in comfort.
[Illustration: FIG. 325.--Quill case of bone needles.]
No. 89389 [1191], Fig. 325 will serve as the type of these needles.
This is a case 3½ inches long, made of the butt of a large quill,
closed with a plug of walrus hide, and contains 6 needles. One is 1.8
inches long, stout, and round-pointed, with a large eye. It is much
discolored from age. The second is also round-pointed but more
slender, 1.9 inches long, and flattened and expanded at the butt. The
third is 2.4 inches long, and has a four-sided point like a glover’s
needle. All three of these are very neatly made and appear old. The
other three are stout, roughly made, and flat, respectively 2.1, 2.2,
and 2.5 inches long. Two of them look suspiciously new. This set was
said to have been the property of the wife of Puka, Nĭkawáalu’s
father.
[Illustration: FIG. 326.--Needles and thimbles: (_a_) large bone
needle and peculiar thimble; (_b_) leather thimbles with bone
needles. 3/4]
Fig. 326_a_ is a peculiarly large and flat needle (No. 89392 [1195]
from Utkiavwĭñ) 3.2 inches long, with a round, sharp point and a large
eye, with little grooves running to the butt on each side for the
thread to lie in. This needle was perhaps specially meant for sewing
boat skins. With this needle belongs a peculiar large bone or ivory
thimble. The remaining needles are all very much alike, though some
are more roughly made than the others. Three of them have the butt
square instead of rounded, and half of them, including some which are
undoubtedly old, are four-sided at the point like a glover’s needle.
The longest is 3 inches long and the shortest 1.4 inches, but the
commonest length is about 2 or 2½ inches. Similar bone needles are
mentioned by various authors.[N420]
[Footnote N420: Formerly they used the bones of fishes or the very
fine bones of birds instead of needles. Crantz, vol. 1, p. 136.
“Their own clumsy needles of bone,” Parry, Second Voy., p. 537 and
pl. opposite p. 548, Fig. 11. Kumlien also speaks of “steel
needles or bone ones made after the same pattern” at Cumberland
Gulf (Contributions, p. 25).]
Nearly all the women now use ordinary metal thimbles, obtained in
trade, but they wear them in the old-fashioned way, on the tip of the
forefinger. Some of the older women, however, still prefer the ancient
leather thimble. There are two patterns of these: one intended for the
fore-finger only, and the other of such a shape that it may also be
worn on the other fingers as a guard against chafing in pulling stout
thread through thick leather. It is often so used at the present day.
We collected three of the first-mentioned pattern, which is
represented by Fig. 326_b_ (No. 89396 [1202,1246]). It is made by
cutting out a narrow ring of raw sealskin 0.7 inch in diameter, with a
circular flap 0.5 inch in diameter on the outside of the ring and a
corresponding one on the inside of the same size, cut out of the
middle of the ring. The flaps are doubled over so as to make a pad on
the inside of the forefinger when the tip of the latter is inserted
into the ring. The butt of the needle presses against this pad.
The third thimble, which belongs with the needlecase (No. 89371
[1276]), is of precisely the same form and dimensions.
There appeared to be little if any variation among those which we saw.
Capt. Lyon[N421] figures two similar thimbles from Iglulik, which are
described on page 537 of the same work as being made of leather. The
flaps, however, seem to be only semicircular and not folded over, so
that the shield consists of only one thickness of leather.
[Footnote N421: Parry, Second Voy., pl. opposite p. 550, Fig. 25.]
A similar thimble with the flap also not folded is used at Cumberland
Gulf.[N422]
[Footnote N422: Boas, Central Eskimo, p. 524, Fig. 473 and
Kumlien, Contributions, p. 25.]
The other pattern, of which we brought home nine specimens, is
represented by No. 89389 [1191], which belongs with the set of bone
needles of the same number. It is a tube, open at both ends, one of
which is larger than the other, made by bending round a strip of split
walrus hide and sewing the ends together. It is 0.4 inch long and 2.1
in circumference at the larger end. It is worn smooth with handling,
and impregnated with grease and dirt and marked with small pits where
it has been pressed against the butt of the needle in use.
Four other old thimbles (No. 89393 [1194], from Utkiavwĭñ, are made in
the same way, but are a trifle larger. As they show no needle-marks,
they were probably used only as finger guards. The remaining four are
similar to the above, but newly made, for sale.
A most peculiar thimble, the only one of the kind seen, is shown in
Fig. 326_a_ (No. 89392 [1195] from Utkiavwĭñ, belonging with the large
bone needle of the same number already described and figured). This is
made of a single piece of walrus ivory, browned with age, and the
round shallow socket is for the butt of the needle. The ends of the
half ring are slightly expanded and notched on the outside to receive
a string to complete the ring so that it can be fitted round the
finger, with the flange in the same position as the pad of a leather
thimble.
Needles are kept in a case (ujyami), consisting of a tube of bone or
ivory about 5 or 6 inches long, through which is drawn a broad strap
of leather furnished with a knot at one end to keep it from slipping
wholly through. Into one side of this strap the needles are thrust
obliquely, so that when the strap is pulled in they are covered by the
tube. To the other end of the strap is usually attached an ivory snap
hook for fastening the needle case to the girdle of the pantaloons.
These needle cases are made of two slightly different patterns, of
which the first is represented by No. 89365 [1277], Fig. 327_a_. It is
of white walrus ivory, 4½ inches long, and the strap is of seal thong
about 11 inches long and 0.3 inch wide. At one end of this is a
pear-shaped knob of walrus ivory, which is shouldered off at the small
end and worked into a short flattened shank perforated with a large
eye, through which the end of the strap, which is cut narrow, is
thrust. It is fastened by doubling it back and sewing it to the
standing part. A sky-blue transparent glass bead is inlaid in the
large end of the knob. The other end of the strap is fastened in the
same way into a tranverse slot in the end of the belt hook
(tĭ´tkĭbwĭñ) of ivory, 4.7 inches long.
[Illustration: FIG. 327.--Needle cases with belt hooks. 1/3]
This pattern appears to be usually made of walrus ivory. Only one of
the six brought home is of bone, and this is an unusually small one,
only 3.6 inches long, made for sale. The usual length is 4½ to 5
inches. No. 89363 [1105], Fig. 327_b_, from Utkiavwĭñ, is a tube very
much like the one described, but is ornamented with an incised pattern
colored with red ocher, and has a differently shaped belt hook. When
the latter is hooked over the girdle the ring is pushed up the shank
over the point of the hook till it fits tight, and thus keeps the hook
from slipping off the belt.
Fig. 328_a_ (No. 89364 [1243] from Utkiavwĭñ) is another ivory needle
case, 4.7 inches long. The tube was once ornamented with incised
patterns, but these are almost wholly worn off by constant handling.
The knob is carved into an ornamental shape, having a circle of six
round knobs round the middle. It has been suggested that this is meant
to represent a cloud-berry (Rubus chamæmorus), a fruit known to the
“Nunatañmiun” though not at Point Barrow. The hook is a snap hook very
much like those described in connection with the netting weights, but
larger (3 inches long) and very broad at the upper end, which is made
into a broad ring. The point of a steel needle still sticking in the
flesh side of the strap shows how the needles are carried with the
points toward the knob.
[Illustration: FIG. 328.--Needle cases: (_a_) case with belt hook;
(_b_) case open, showing bone needles. 1/2]
No. 89370 [1033], also from Utkiavwĭñ, has no knob, but the end of the
strap is kept from slipping through by rolling it up transversely and
catching it with a stitch of sinew. It has a broad flat snap hook
similar to the last, but cut on the edges into ornamental scallops.
The tube is ornamented with an incised pattern colored red with ocher,
and is 5.2 long. No. 56575 [7] is an old tube of brown walrus ivory,
enlarged into a knob at one end. It has no knob or hook, but a new
strap of white seal skin, in the lower end of which is tied a large
knot. The other pattern has the cylinder made of a hollow “long” bone,
in its natural shape. This bone appears to be almost always the
humerus of some large bird, probably a swan. The strap has usually no
knob, but is kept from slipping through by knotting the end or tying
on a large bead or a bear’s toe, or some such object too large to go
through the tube. None of these have belt hooks except one new and
roughly made specimen.
These bone tubes are apparently older than the neat ivory cylinders,
and it is not unlikely that the belt hook was not invented till the
former was mostly out of fashion. No. 89361 [1239], Fig. 328_b_ from
Utkiavwĭñ, is one of these which has for knob one of the large dark
blue glass beads which used to bring such enormous prices in the early
days of Arctic trading, and which are still the kind most highly
prized. The end of the strap is cut narrow, passed through the bead,
and knotted on the end. This case carries a half-dozen of the
old-fashioned bone needles, which appear to be genuine. It is 3.7
inches long and, roughly speaking, 0.4 in diameter. No. 89369 [1201],
also from Utkiavwĭñ, resembles the above, but has a wolverine’s toe
sewed to the end of the strap. No. 89371 [1276], from Utkiavwĭñ, also
has the toe of a wolverine for a knob, and has a belt hook with two
tongues made of reindeer antler. No. 89366 [1137], from Utkiavwĭñ, is
a highly ornamented case of this pattern, which has a short
cylindrical knob, also ornamented. No. 89368 [1089], from Utkiavwĭñ,
is not made of bird’s bone, but is a piece of a long bone from some
mammal, and has a brown bear’s toe for a knob. No. 89367 [1339], from
the same village, is roughly made of a branch of antler, 3.9 inches
long and 0.8 wide, hollowed out. It has a knob of whale’s bone, but no
belt hook, the end of the strap being knotted into a leather thimble
of the first pattern. Of the six specimens of this pattern in the
collection only the first is a genuine old implement. All the others
are merely commercial imitations rather carelessly made.
This kind of needle case is very commonly used throughout Alaska, as
is shown by the enormous collections in the National Museum brought
home by various explorers, Nelson, Turner, Dall and others. The needle
case from Iglulik, figured by Capt. Lyon,[N423] resembles the second
or older pattern, being of bone, not tapered at the ends, and having
neither knob nor belt hook. To the ends of the strap are hung thimbles
“and other small articles liable to be lost.”[N424] Dr. Simpson[N425]
speaks of the needle case in use at Point Barrow, but merely describes
it as “a narrow strip of skin in which the needles are stuck, with a
tube of bone, ivory, or iron to slide down over them, and kept from
slipping off the lower end by a knob or large bead.” This appears to
refer only to the second or older pattern.
[Footnote N423: Parry’s Second Voyage, pl. opposite p. 550, Fig.
25.]
[Footnote N424: Ibid., p. 537.]
[Footnote N425: Op. cit, p. 245.]
The old-fashioned ring thimbles were usually carried on the belt hook
of the needlecase, but modern thimbles require a box. These boxes
(kigiunɐ), which are usually small and cylindrical, also serve for
holding thread, beads, and all sorts of little trinkets or
knickknacks, and many of them are so old that they were evidently used
for this purpose long before the introduction of metal thimbles.
Little tin canisters, spice boxes, etc., are also used for the same
purpose nowadays. We brought home thirteen of these boxes, of which
No. 89407 [1158] Fig. 329_a_ has been chosen as the type. It is a
piece of the beam of a stout antler, 4.3 inches long, cut off square
on the ends and hollowed out. Into the large end is fitted a flat
bottom of thin pine, fastened in by four little treenails of wood. The
cover is of the same material. It is held on by a string of sinew
braid about 11 inches long, which passes out through the lower of the
two little holes on one side of the box, being held by a knot at the
end, in through the upper, then out and in through two similar holes
in the middle of the cover, and out through a hole on the other side
of the box. Pulling the end of this string draws the cover down snugly
into its place.
Some of the remaining boxes are made of antler, and vary in length
from 4.7 to 8 inches. The last is, however, unusually large, most of
the others being about 5 inches long. The covers are generally held on
by strings much in the manner described, and the ends are both usually
of wood, though two old boxes have both ends made of antler, and one
has a top of hard bone. The last is a specimen newly made for sale.
These boxes are sometimes ornamented on the outside with incised
lines, colored red or blackened, either conventional patterns as in
Fig. 329_b_ (No. 89405 [1335], from Utkiavwĭñ) or figures of men and
animals as in Fig. 329_c_ (No. 56615 [41] from the same village). The
former is a new box, 4.7 inches long, and has the wooden ends both
shouldered to fit tightly. The cover is worked with a string.
[Illustration: FIG. 329.--Trinket boxes. 1/2]
No. 56615 [41] on the other hand is very old, and has lost its cover.
The wooden bottom is shouldered and held in with treenails. The
surface is elaborately ornamented with incised and blackened figures.
It is divided by longitudinal lines into four nearly equal panels, on
which the figures are disposed as follows (the animals all being
represented as standing on the longitudinal lines, and facing toward
the right, that is, toward the open end of the box): On the first
panel are 4 reindeer, alternately a buck and a doe, followed by a man
in a kaiak, and over his head two small “circles and dots,” one above
the other. All the deer on this box are represented strictly in
profile, so as to show only two legs and one antler each. On the
second panel are 4 deer, all does, followed by a man with a bow slung
across his back. On the third, a man in the middle appears to be
calling 2 dogs, who, at the left of the panel, are drawing a railed
sled. Reversed, and on the upper border of the panel, is a man pushing
behind a similar sled drawn by 3 dogs. The head dog has stopped and is
sitting down on his haunches. The dogs, like the reindeer, are all
strictly in profile and rather conventionalized. In the fourth panel
are 3 reindeer followed by a man in his kaiak, and upside down, above,
a deer without legs, supposed to be swimming in the water, and a very
rude figure of a man in his kaiak. These figures probably represent
actual occurrences, forming a sort of record.
[Illustration: FIG. 330.--Trinket boxes. 1/2]
Fig. 330_a_ (No. 89408 [1371] from Sidaru) is a piece of stout antler,
4.7 inches long, which has the bottom of pine fitted tightly in
without fastenings. The cover is of wood, covered, to make it fit
tight, with parchment, apparently shrunk on and puckered on the upper
surface. A thick hank of untwisted sinew is fastened as a handle
through the middle of the cover. This box is old and dirty, and
contains an unfinished flint arrow-head. No. 56505 [59] from
Utkiavwĭñ, is a new box, closed at the ends with thick shouldered
plugs of pine wood. The tube is 8 inches long and ornamented with a
conventional pattern of incised lines colored with red ocher.
Fig. 330_b_ (No. 89402 [1359] also from Utkiavwĭñ), is peculiar from
the material of which it is made. It is of about the same pattern as
the common antler boxes, but is made of the butt end of the _os penis_
of a large walrus, cut off square and hollowed out, and has ends of
hard whale’s bone. Its length is 4.2 inches. No. 89403 [1425] Fig. 331
from Sidaru, is made of the hollow butt of a good-sized walrus tusk,
3.2 inches long. It has a neatly fitted wooden bottom, held in with 6
treenails, two of ivory and four of wood. The box has been cracked and
split and mended with stitches of sinew and whalebone. Peculiar
conventional patterns are incised on the box and cover. A peculiar box
is shown in Fig. 332 (No. 56583 [37] from Utkiavwĭñ). This is of
compact white bone, with a flat wooden bottom. I do not recollect
seeing any other boxes of the same sort.
[Illustration: FIG. 331.--Ivory box. 1/2]
[Illustration: FIG. 332.--Bone box. 1/2]
Fig. 333 (No. 89409 [1372]) is the tip of a walrus tusk cut off and
hollowed out into a sort of flask, 3.8 inches long, closed at the
large end by a flat wooden bottom, fastened in with treenails and at
the small end by a stopper of soft wood.
[Illustration: FIG. 333.--Little flask of ivory. 1/2]
[Illustration: FIG. 334.--Box in shape of deer. 1/2]
The most peculiar box of all, however, is shown in Fig. 334 (No. 56512
[2] from Utkiavwĭñ), the only specimen of the kind seen. It is 5.5
inches long, made of reindeer antler, and very neatly carved into a
most excellent image of a reindeer lying on its left side, with the
head, which has no antlers, turned down and to the left. The legs are
folded up against the belly, the forelegs with the hoofs pointing
backward, the hind hoofs pointing forward. The eyes are represented by
small sky-blue glass beads, and the mouth, nostrils, and navel neatly
incised, the last being particularly well-marked. The tips of the
hoofs are rounded off, which, taken in connection with the attitude
and the well marked navel, lead me to believe that the image is meant
to represent an unborn fetus. The whole of the body is hollowed, the
aperture taking up the whole of the buttocks, and closed by a flat,
thick plug of soft wood. A round peg of wood is driven in to close an
accidental hole just above the left shoulder. The box is old and
discolored, and worn smooth with much handling.
[Illustration: FIG. 335.--Small basket. 1/2]
Rarely these little workboxes are made of basketwork. We obtained four
specimens of these small baskets, of which No. 56564 [88] Fig. 335,
workbasket (águma, áma, ipiáru), will serve as the type. The neck is
of black tanned sealskin, 2½ inches long, and has 1 vertical seam, to
the middle of which is sewed the middle of a piece of fine seal thong,
a foot long, which serves to tie up the mouth. The basket appears to
be made of fine twigs or roots of the willow, with the bark removed,
and is made by winding an osier spirally into the shape of the basket,
and wrapping a narrow splint spirally around the two adjacent parts of
this, each turn of the splint being separated from the next by a turn
of the succeeding tier. The other basket from Utkiavwĭñ (No. 56565
[135]) is almost exactly like this, but larger (3.5 inches in diameter
and 2.2 high), and has holes round the top of the neck for the
drawstring.
[Illustration: FIG. 336.--Small basket. 1/3]
Two baskets from Sidaru are of the same material and workmanship, but
somewhat larger and of a different shape, as shown in Fig. 336, No.
89801 [1366], and Fig. 337, No. 89802 [1427]. This was the only
species of basketwork seen among these people and is probably not of
native manufacture.
Prof. O. T. Mason, of the National Museum, has called my attention to
the fact that the method of weaving employed in making these baskets
is the same as that used by the Apaches and Navajos, who have been
shown to be linguistically of the same stock as the Athabascan or
Tinné group of Indians of the North. The first basket collected, No.
56564 [88], was said by the owner to have come from the “great river”
in the south. Now, the name Kuwûk or Kowak, applied to the western
stream flowing into Hotham Inlet, means simply “great river,” and this
is the region where the Eskimo come into very intimate commercial
relations with Indians of Tinné stock.[N426] Therefore, in
consideration of the Indian workmanship of these baskets, and the
statement that one of them came from the “great river, south,” I am
well convinced that they were made by the Indians of the region
between the Koyukuk and Silawĭk Rivers, and sold by them to the
Kuwûñmiun, whence they could easily find their way to Point Barrow
through the hands of the “Nunatañmiun” traders.
[Footnote N426: Dall, American Association, Address, 1885, p. 13.]
[Illustration: FIG. 337.--Small basket. 1/3]
The Eskimo of Alaska south of Bering Strait make and use baskets of
many patterns, but east of Point Barrow baskets are exceedingly rare.
The only mention of anything of the kind will be found in Lyon’s
Journal.[N427] He mentions seeing at Iglulik a “small round basket
composed of grass in precisely the same manner as those constructed by
the Tibboo, in the southern part of Fezzan, and agreeing with them
also in its shape.” Now, these Africans make baskets of precisely the
same “coiled” work (as Prof. Mason calls it) as the Tinné, so that in
all probability what Lyon saw was one of these same baskets, carried
east in trade, like other western objects already referred to. The
name áma applied to these baskets at Point Barrow (the other two names
appear to be simply “bag” or receptacle) corresponds to the
Greenlandic amåt, the long thin runners from the root of a tree, “at
present used in the plural also for a basket of European basketwork,”
(because they had no idea that twigs could be so small)--Grønlandske
Ordbog.
[Footnote N427: P. 172.]
No. 89799 [1329] from Utkiavwĭñ, is a peculiar bag, the only one of
the kind seen, used for the same purpose as the boxes and baskets just
described. It is the stomach of a polar bear, with the muscular and
glandular layers removed, dried and carefully worked down with a skin
scraper into something like goldbeater’s skin. This makes a large,
nearly spherical bag 7½ inches in diameter, of a pale brownish color,
soft and wrinkled, with a mouth 6 inches wide. A small hole has been
mended by drawing the skin together and winding it round tightly on
the inside with sinew.